| "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Buddy Holly | ||||
| from the album The Buddy Holly Story | ||||
| B-side | "Raining in My Heart" | |||
| Released | January 5, 1959 | |||
| Recorded | October 21, 1958 | |||
| Studio | Decca Studios, Pythian Temple, New York City | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 2:01 | |||
| Label | Coral Records 9-62074 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Paul Anka | |||
| Buddy Holly singles chronology | ||||
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"It Doesn't Matter Anymore" is a pop ballad written by Paul Anka and recorded by Buddy Holly in 1958. The song was issued in January 1959, less than a month before Holly's death. "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" reached number 13 as a posthumous hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1959, shortly after Holly was killed in a plane crash on February 3, 1959. The single was a two-sided hit, backed with "Raining in My Heart". "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" was Holly's last US Top 20 hit and featured the orchestral backing of Dick Jacobs. It was also successful in the United Kingdom, where it became the country's first posthumous number 1 hit.[1]
The song was recorded in mid-October 1958 in New York City. Paul Anka wrote it specifically for Holly. He donated his royalties from the song to Holly's wife. He said: "'It Doesn't Matter Anymore' has a tragic irony about it now, but at least it will help look after Buddy Holly's family. I'm giving my composer's royalty to his widow - it's the least I can do."
The song has been covered many times by artists like Linda Ronstadt in 1974 and, most commercially successfully by New Zealand-born singer-songwriter Mark Williams, who had a number-one hit with it in 1977.